With a Rapid Dip of Wing
by akisawana
Summary: Two hundred sentences for the Aerialbots.
1. Epsilon

Title: With a Rapid Dip of Wing

Author: akisawana

Genre: Fifty sentence challenge. Theme set Epsilon.

Warnings: So who thought this would be one massive orgy? Just me? This is as G-rated as I get . Positively Disney.

Notes: Broke my USB key. Decided to try something other than retail therapy.

Summary: Fifty sentences for the Aerialbots.

* * *

#01 – Motion

They never stopped moving, partly because to stop in the air was to fall, partly because there was simply too much to do, too much to see.

#02 – Cool

"Don't listen to him," Air Raid said, dragging Slingshot away from Blades by the scruff of his neck, "we all know you're cool."

#03 – Young

They weren't even a sidereal cycle in their armor, so Ratchet gave them visitation rights he gave no-one else, not even the twins.

#04 – Last

Slingshot may have been the slowest, but Fireflight was generally the last to arrive anywhere; distracted by the beauty around him and then lost when his brothers were no longer in sight.

#05 – Wrong

Skydive had thought it would work perfectly, thought he had worked it out right in his head and on paper and in countless computer simulations; but he had been wrong somewhere and now Air Raid was going down in a plume of oily smoke.

#06 – Gentle

Whenever something was wrong with one of his brothers –physically, mentally, emotionally- Fireflight would come to him, seek him out, and make it right with gentle words and gentle hands.

#07 – One

The others thought that Superion was a fusion of all five Aerialbots, five parts held together by electromagnetism and love, only the Protectbots knew differently, knew that a gestalt is one mech in five bodies.

#08 – Thousand

Silverbolt pointed his nosecone to the heavens and climbed and prayed, his altimeter ticking his height, one hundred two hundred three hundred, higher and higher; he broke a thousand and his brothers cheered!

#09 – King

Other teams may be a democracy, but the Aerialbots were a kingdom: Silverbolt's orders were not to be questioned, the position his by right of birth; he spent as much time as he could manage with his team until he knew them inside and out, and the rest of the day negotiating with other team leaders on their 

behalf or studying anything that might be helpful – there was no replacing him, he was the only option, and that meant he had to be the best one.

#10 – Learn

It was rare to find Skydive without his nose buried in a book or a data pad; the only times he stopped reading of his own volition was to teach what he had learned to his brothers.

#11 – Blur

Air Raid was nothing more than a black blur as he flew towards the distress signal, Skydive behind him a blue streak.

#12 – Wait

Ratchet may have given them more privileges than anyone else in the Ark, but he still had to draw the line somewhere; just outside the medbay four Aerialbots sat shoulder to shoulder and waited.

#13 – Change

The regime change bothered the Aerialbots not at all –for them, it was all about the death of their creator.

#14 – Command

After being in charge of his Aerialbots for so long, no command was too difficult for Silverbolt –even if his ground troops included Sunstreaker and a centuries-old secret.

#15 – Hold

In public, Slingshot hated displays of affection, calling them "mushy" but at night, he was more than happy to hold a brother after a nightmare.

#16 – Need

"Prime, you don't understand; if they don't fly soon, they'll go mad."

#17 – Vision

There was nothing wrong with Fireflight's optics; they were the sharpest of all his brothers, and _that_ was the problem.

#18 – Attention

"It's not his fault really," Slingshot said as he and Air Raid carried Fireflight past Prime towards the medbay, "His creator gave him the attention span of a gnat."

#19 – Soul

Others wondered how the Aerialbots could stand combining, knowing everything about each other, every secret, every lie of omission, a few knew it was because they were a single spark in five parts, a few knew it was because they shared all the contents of their souls; the Aerialbots themselves were too busy living to share the truth.

#20 – Picture

Fireflight's accidental trip to Australia and the day they spent tracking him down and bringing him home was time well spent, they all agreed, when he showed them the pictures he had taken of the whales he had followed across the ocean and the panoramas of the outback.

#21 – Fool

Air Raid was many things but a fool was not one of them, despite what Ratchet claimed.

#22 – Mad

Few people could get Prowl well and truly angry; that Slingshot was one of them surprised no-one –the shock was in how Optimus Prime tolerated everything the little jet said.

#23 – Child

Skyfire watched the Aerialbots recharging in a Chinese rice paddy; they were so young, too young for war and death, and he mourned silently for the childhood they would never have.

#24 – Now

It wasn't for wounds or grudges millions of years old the Aerialbots fought, it was for how the Decepticons tried to kill them now.

#25 – Shadow

It made the older mechs smile, to watch the Aerialbots fight with no shadows around them, laugh with no bitterness, play with no regrets.

#26 – Goodbye

"Guys, guys," Silverbolt said from the bottom of the pile, "I'm only going to be gone overnight!"

#27 – Hide

As soon as Ratchet closed and locked the isolation ward's door, Fireflight climbed out of a rolling bin of spare parts, Skydive tumbled out of a cabinet, and Slingshot jumped out of the air vent; Air Raid and Silverbolt, with heroic effort, managed smiles.

#28 – Fortune

"How'd I get lucky enough to have a brother like you?" Fireflight whispered to Slingshot, cradling the Harrier against his chest and trying desperately to stop the leaking from the shot meant for him.

#29 – Safe

Fireflight burrowed against Silverbolt's shoulder as the Air Commander lifted him right off the ground, they'd been looking for him for days, imagining all sorts of disasters, some of which had happened by the looks of his wings, but none of that mattered anymore.

#30 – Ghost

They were the only ones on the Ark with no ghosts; some of the more bitter mechs hated them for it.

#31 – Book

It wasn't that Slingshot thought books weren't worth reading; he just didn't like seeing the words as much as hearing Skydive read them to him.

#32 – Eye

"It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye," was all Silverbolt said as he walked in the medbay leading a blinded Air Raid by the hand –Ratchet just didn't want to know.

#33 – Never

Never was a strong word, but they'd never lose just one of the jets without losing them all; on the other hand, it made them that much more likely to pull through against impossible odds.

#34 – Sing

Air Raid didn't mind masturbating Slingshot's ego per se, but there was a definite time factor: "Let's just say you can do anything but sing and leave it at that, bro."

#35 – Sudden

Blades got no warning, not even the sound of footsteps, when Air Raid jumped him as he taunted Slingshot.

#36 – Stop

It had taken a long time for Fireflight to learn how to stop on his own, rather than by crashing into the nearest large, sturdy object.

#37 – Time

Perhaps it was because they were so young, but time seemed to move quicker for them; a two-and-a-half-day duty shift seemed unthinkably long!

#38 – Wash

Because of their wings, the Aerialbots always showered in pairs at least; there was a metaphor in there somewhere, but none of them had enough of a poet's soul to put it in words –and why would they even try, when it was so obvious?

#39 – Torn

All of them, at one time or another, had lain awake at night wondering what to do if two of his brothers were in danger at once (except Air Raid.)

#40 – History

It wasn't that they didn't think they could learn from history, Skydive just explained everything so much better –and recreations of famous dogfights were fun!

#41 – Power

"Fireflight, just how in the name of all that is sacred, did you manage to knock out the power to the entire state?"

#42 – Bother

Silverbolt often was found in Hot Spot's room, cursing whoever decided his brothers should be equipped with supersonic capabilities and wondering why he even bothered trying to civilize the little savages.

#43 – God

Fireflight was the only one of them who cared if there was a God and he believed; how else was the sunrise always different and always beautiful?

#44 – Wall

After what Cliffjumper said, no-one was really surprised when Slingshot took a page out of Sunstreaker's book and threw him into the wall –what was surprising was that Skydive helped.

#45 – Naked

Privacy was even more a foreign concept to them than regular mechs without even thoughts unshared –sometimes Slingshot wished his brothers' thoughts didn't flit across his mind so he could hate them properly.

#46 – Drive

Prime's trailer with its precious cargo, in Silverbolt's opinion, was simply not fast enough, and with the way he had to go around mountains rather than over them, how could anyone find this acceptable?

#47 – Harm

"Never meant to hurt you," Slingshot said softly, awkwardly as he knelt next to his brother who had already forgave him.

#48 – Precious

They were all equally precious to Silverbolt; sometimes he found himself standing in doorways and watching them recharge just to reassure himself they were alright.

#49 – Hunger

Silverbolt negotiated their own energon dispenser as soon as he discovered one of his brothers would rather go hungry, those first few weeks, than go into the rec room by himself.

#50 – Believe

"Have a little faith in me, whydoncha?" Air Raid asked; the only faith Slingshot had in him involved a lot of cleaning duty suddenly in his schedule.

* * *

End notes:

#3: Sidereal cycle – a year as measured by the position of the stars. Sorry, you say solar cycle and I think 24 hours.

#14: See Magnificent Six. Reads like bad fanfiction, so maybe you should just take my word for it. I'll give you the best line, even: "Sunstreaker had evidently been paying more attention to Prime's words than the rest of them, thought Prowl. Or perhaps years of listening and simultaneously admiring his gleaming bodywork in any available reflective surface had given him the ability to have his mind in two places at once."

#37: A joor is idiomatically as long as an hour. It's six and a half hours long; an eight-joor duty rotation (which was retrieved directly from my ass) therefore is 2.6 days long.

#49: Which one do you think?


	2. Delta

Title: With a Rapid Dip of Wing

Author: akisawana

Genre: Fifty sentence challenge. Theme set Delta.

Warnings: Massive fail? Oxford comma. Bit of language. It is very clear who are my favorites.

Notes: I wrote this set, with the idea of making one that was applicable to all fandoms, regardless of technology or culture. I apparently neglected to think of giant robots.

Summary: Fifty more sentences for the Aerialbots.

* * *

#01 – Air

In the air, the feeling indescribable to poor earth-bound mechs, all they could say was they'd rather die than lose their wings.

#02 – Apples

Despite Slingshot's aim, every officer on the Ark condemned the "William Tell game."

#03 – Beginning

When Fireflight first started seeing Sandstorm, Slingshot threw a fit: what could the triple-changer do that he couldn't? (aside from a bunch of really lame things like lie, cheat, steal, and break his spark)

#04 – Bugs

Dizzy, and more than a little concussed, all Air Raid could say in response to his wingmates' questions was, "I swallowed a bug."

#05 – Coffee

Night after night of paperwork and all Silverbolt wanted was a pot of coffee or to go to sleep and never wake up, but it was worth it to not have to try to read Slingshot's penmanship, cut Fireflight's report from ten pages to two, or track Air Raid down and glue him to a chair; and it really wasn't fair to do everyone else's work but make Skydive do his own, was it?

#06 – Dark

It was too dark in the cave to see his hand in front of his face, but at least Skydive couldn't see the ceiling mere inches above him.

#07 – Despair

None of his brothers knew what despair was, Silverbolt thought sourly in the jaws of the black dog, that would require actually thinking about the future!

#08 – Doors

Close as they were, sometimes all a 'bot wanted was a door and a lock.

#09 – Drink

"C'mon, Sling, just a little more," Fireflight begged; Slingshot gave in and finished the cube even though he knew it was just coming right back up.

#10 – Duty

Of all the things, great and small, required to keep the base running smoothly, monitor duty was the worst: staring for hours on end at clear blue sky through the cameras was nothing short of torture.

#11 – Earth

Silverbolt liked to be able to feel the solid earth under his feet.

#12 – End

When the end came, it was neither a whisper nor a bang; it was a swan song, voices falling silent one at a time.

#13 – Fall

Falling didn't bother Slingshot at all –all he needed to land was enough space for his wings, not a mile-long runway.

#14 – Fire

At first they called him "Fire," warm and bright, but everyone else went by the second half of their names, and they made the shift without noticing (Fireflight himself never even knew it bothered him until after the fact.)

#15 – Flexible

Silverbolt learned quickly how to twist the rules and the precedents others had set to keep his brothers out of the brig; it wasn't until Prowl was gone he realized just how much leeway he had been given.

#16 – Flying

Don't ask them what flying feels like, you might as well ask what it feels like to breathe.

#17 – Food

"While keeping your word is an admirable thing," Optimus Prime said slowly, "please keep in mind that idioms don't count, and also that Ratchet does not enjoy pulling parts of Blades out of his mouth."

#18 – Foot

"Has anyone seen my left foot?" Slingshot asked crossly after the battle.

#19 – Grave

In the end, there was nothing to be done for the little songbird, and Fireflight apologized to it while digging the tiny grave with his bare hands.

#20 – Green

Even though he thought Slingshot should be green, for envy, he never said it –he liked his head right where it was, thank you very much!

#21 – Head

Field surgery was hard enough without the patient being an _Aerialbot_ (and really, that one word covered every sin in Ratchet's book), but as soon as Skydive showed up and laid his brother's head in his lap, Ratchet's job suddenly became a whole lot easier, with all vitals sliding closer to normal and those damn tremors stopping.

#22 – Hollow

"Yep, it's hollow alright," Air Raid said, rapping his knuckles against Slingshot's head.

#23 – Honor

What the Aerialbots learned of fighting they learned from the Decepticons; was it any wonder they didn't fight fair?

#24 – Hope

They didn't know what possessed Sunstreaker to draw the classical vices and virtues as various Cybertronians, but they all knew which one Fireflight was.

#25 – Light

Slingshot saw how his brother's face light up when Sandstorm walked in the room, and thought maybe, just maybe, he should stop giving them a hard time.

#26 – Lost

After the twenty-sixth time in a row he got lost coming in from patrol, Prowl sent Fireflight down to Ratchet to make _sure_ his GPS wasn't malfunctioning.

#27 – Metal

There were times Skydive wished he didn't have a metal body –how much better of a flier would he be with the flexibility of flesh?

#28 – New

"Congratulations, Slingshot," Ratchet said, throwing a damaged part at his head, "with this new fuel pump, you're now made completely of replaced parts!"

#29 – Old

They never got the chance to grow old.

#30 – Peace

Peacetime would have bored Air Raid anyways.

#31 – Poison

Silverbolt cycled air through his intakes once before replying, "With all due respect, sir, the bad energon in our dispenser was not a harmless prank, and the Chief Medical Officer agrees."

#32 – Pretty

"It's pretty," Air Raid said, and Fireflight's spark sank –he thought the sunset tonight was spectacular; Air Raid wasn't finished, though, "Thanks for bringing me up here."

#33 – Rain

Thunderstorms were Skydive's favorite weather to fly in, though he couldn't explain why the danger made it more fun, so much more he wore lightning bolts on his wings.

#34 – Regret

"Were you trying to kill your brother?" Ratchet demanded, but regretted his words when he saw how Air Raid and Slingshot's faces fell.

#35 – Roses

The war wasn't over, but for the moment all five of them were together, everything was coming up roses, and that was good enough.

#36 – Secret

The secret to their happiness was simple; they had no secrets.

#37 – Snakes

"Snakes on a Plane" was a forbidden movie, but that didn't stop Air Raid from getting a copy from Sideswipe, for a price.

#38 – Snow

The first time they saw snow, they had no idea what it was, except that it looked like ashes, and they didn't want anything to do with it.

#39 – Solid

Radio contact and the gestalt-link was better than nothing, but wasn't as good as having your brother with you, alive and warm and solid.

#40 – Spring

The clouds swirled around him, reducing visibility to zero, but that was alright with him, he thought, feeling the tension building in him like a spring wound too tight, they'd never see him coming.

#41 – Stable

No matter how high or far they flew, Silverbolt was always waiting for them, safe stable home ground.

#42 – Strange

Just because he knew his brothers inside and out didn't mean Silverbolt understood a damn thing they did.

#43 – Summer

Summer was their favorite season, and Silverbolt told them when the war was over they'd move to the Caribbean, land of perpetual sunshine.

#44 – Taboo

It was taboo, and six kinds of wrong, and probably edging closer to pedophilia than Skywarp was comfortable with, but interfacing with the Aerialbot was so much better than getting shot.

#45 – Ugly

Ten miles above the earth, as high as he could go, and Slingshot was still not as good as his brothers, still the weak link in the chain –why, he was even the ugliest!

#46 – War

They were made for war, it was all they had ever known, and really it didn't seem so bad (of course not, they knew nothing of peace.)

#47 – Water

Skydive poured water over Slingshot's hands until the energon was cleaned off, until the haunted look left his optics, until the sins of necessity were washed away.

#48 – Welcome

When the Protectbots first came online, they gave the newest combiner team a day or so to adjust, then descended upon them with backslaps and handshakes, and, remembering their own first days, tried as hard as they could to make them feel welcome.

#49 – Winter

They weren't too fond of winter, cold and wet and crappy to fly in, except for Fireflight who found all that pure untouched white beautiful.

#50 – Woods

"They're not out of the woods yet," Ratchet said to Prime, logging the readings on a monitor hooked up to one of the Aerialbots, "but I think they're going to make it."

* * *

#2: William Tell supposedly shot an apple off his son's head

#3: Don't ask. Don't. Just google it or whatever.

#07: "The black dog" is a term for depression. It's not one of Silverbolt's better days.

#13: Slingshot's a VTOL, he takes off and lands without a runway, like a helicopter.

#44: You tell me which one.


	3. Gamma

Title: With a Rapid Dip of Wing

Author: akisawana

Genre: Fifty sentence challenge. Theme set Gamma.

Warnings: Language

Summary: Fifty sentences for the Aerialbots, take three.

Notes: Getting back in the groove. I rearranged some in the middle.

* * *

#01 - Ring  
It was no surprise that Skydive liked a movie as boring as Lord of the Rings, or that Slingshot liked one about small people saving the world with sheer stubborn courage.

#02 - Hero

"My hero," Air Raid swooned dramatically, falling on Silverbolt as soon as he woke up.

#03 - Memory

Every time he onlined, it took Slingshot a minute to remember he wasn't a speed shuttle anymore but a strike aircraft.

#04 - Box

It was surprising to realize everything he confiscated from his brothers fit in a single box.

#05 - Run

On foot, Slingshot was the fastest (because they let him win.)

#06 - Hurricane

"Air Raid, get _out_," and there was true fear under Silverbolt's annoyance.

#07 - Wings

Superion kept Dirge's wings over the TV.

#08 - Cold

It scared Prime, how quickly Silverbolt turned cold and hard when his brothers were threatened.

#09 - Red

Silverbolt was going to be grey and yellow and _blue_, but Prime insisted.

#10 - Drink

Skydive wasn't afraid of the cube, he was exactly the proper amount of cautious, after the last time.

#11 - Midnight

Sometimes, it was Silverbolt chasing Slingshot to bed, but mostly it was the other way around.

#12 - Temptation

Superion had _terrible_ impulse control, and Powerglide _was_ really annoying, and that was their story and they were sticking to it.

#13 - View

Air Raid didn't get it, but it made Fireflight happy, so he sat on top of the mountain and looked.

#14 - Music

He had a bad habit of humming along to video game soundtracks; it gave Air Raid away every time he snuck one into a briefing.

#15 - Silk

Skydive was fussy about _everyone's_ wings, polishing them as smooth as silk, and then smoother.

#16 - Cover

Fireflight wasn't much of a sharpshooter, but nothing laid down cover fire like firefog.

#17 - Promise

Skyfire promised to take them to other planets, after the war.

#18 - Dream

Slingshot shared all his brothers' dreams; the nightmares that woke him up as well, the weird ones that made no sense...and the ones that left him blushing at Hot Spot.

#19 - Candle

Five (six) candle flames, dancing yellow in the breeze, five (six) wisps of smoke, when the wind blew a little harder.

#20 - Talent

They all had a special talent: Silverbolt and the lightning, Skydive and tactics, Slingshot and his rifle... Fireflight and getting lost, Air Raid and, well, he'd figure his out later.

#21 - Silence

Hot Spot didn't ask when Silverbolt showed up at his door, just let the Air Commander enjoy the silence.

#22 - Journey

After karaoke night, it only took three words, "small town girl," to get any Aerialbot to fall over laughing (except Slingshot, he'd hold out for "south Detroit.")

#23 - Fire

"I don't have _time _to be on fire," Silverbolt huffed, "I have an evac to organize!"

#24 - Strength

Superion could tear down the sky, but not withstand the pleading for thirty seconds -how did Silverbolt ever manage it?

#25 - Mask

Slingshot hid under his anger, they all knew it, but they all knew _why_, and they played along.

#26 - Ice

Nobody knew to warn Skydive about icing.

#27 - Fall

He screamed as he fell, though no-one heard it.

#28 - Dance

"Air Raid, our people do not have a sacred dance, and if they did, it would not be the Electric Slide."

#29 - Forgotten

Forgotten, the base was overrun by Zergs, the spilled energon dried sticky, the tv played on unwatched.

#30 - Body

Skydive was in five pieces; Superion could relate.

#31 - Sacred

"Gangam Style is not the sacred dance of our people either, Air Raid."

#32 - World

Their whole world narrowed down to the medbay door, and Skydive on the other side.

#33 - Formal

"Air Raid, if you don't knock it the hell off, I'm writing you up on formal charges of gross insensitivity and general jackassness!"

#34 - Farewells

They came in to say their farewells, and that's what saved him.

#35 - Laugh

Later, they'd laugh about Air Raid's dancing.

#36 - Fever

The next time Skydive flew that high, he cranked his de-icers until paint blistered and bubbled.

#37 - Lies

It was impossible for them to lie to each other, even the little white ones civilization was built on.

#38 - Forever

The sky was theirs to rule, now and always, forever and ever, war without end, and the Aerialbots were a blasphemy in it.

#39 - Overwhelmed

Blaster, Hoist, Ironhide, even Prime found them too much to handle (Wheeljack and Ratchet loved them all the more.)

#40 - Whisper

Even when he wasn't manifested, Superion was always whispering in the back of their heads, telling them they were strong enough, fast enough, _good_ enough; telling them they didn't need him.

#41 - Wait

Fireflight _would_ wait all day and all night; that made Powerglide's prank all the crueler.

#42 - Talk

Skydive went a week without talking out loud once, not that anyone noticed.

#43 - Search

Finding Fireflight was hard enough when he _wasn't_ trying to hide.

#44 - Hope

Air Raid was a little fuzzy on the difference between "hope" and "solid battle plan."

#45 - Eclipse

Skyfire, fearing well-justified Wrath of Ratchet, checked their optical settings three times.

#46 - Gravity

Skydive shook off the chains of gravity easy as snow.

#47 - Highway

It was an urban legend, but it was close enough to the truth; they usually could find a stretch straight enough to land.

#48 - Unknown

They never did find out who filled their dispenser with tainted energon.

#49 - Lock

Silverbolt's door was frequently locked, since they all had the key.

#50 – Breathe

In the middle of the night, he counted vents -one two three four and his own made five.

* * *

End notes:

#6: Air Raid gets yelled at a lot.

#9: When even Prime thinks you're going to clash...

#10: See previous sets. And #48

#16: Thermobaric weaponry: for when you need all the destructiveness of an atomic bomb without the war crime.

#31: I'm not about to let timelines get in the way of a story involving the Aerialbots.

#47: One out of every five miles of highway in the United States is not designed to double as an emergency landing strip.

Thank you for reading.


	4. Beta

Title: With a Rapid Dip of Wing

Author: akisawana

Genre: Fifty sentence challenge. Theme set Beta.

Warnings: Language

Summary: Fifty sentences for the Aerialbots, take four.

Notes: Nobody saw that, right? Anyways, I fixed it now.

* * *

#01 – Walking

The only thing Silverbolt hated more than flying was walking.

#02 – Waltz

"The waltz is not the dance of our people. Our people don't _have_ a dance," Silverbolt said, and added over private comm., "too soon, Air Raid, too soon."

#03 – Wishes

Slingshot didn't believe, technically, but he'd be damned if he didn't do everything in his power, including wishing on stupid things.

#04 – Wonder

Superion was old and tired and cynical, too far gone to mourn that he saw attack vectors where Fireflight only saw wonder.

#05 – Worry

What came first, Fireflight and Slingshot and Skydive and Air Raid blithely careless, or Silverbolt worrying enough for all five put together?

#06 – Whimsy

Silverbolt regretted the question as soon as he asked, but Air Raid just grinned and said, "Try anything once but incest and folk dancing."

#07 - Waste/Wasteland

Earth was dirty and dusty and infested with organics –but Cybertron left an unsettling oiliness in their tanks and an itch in their wings, dead home they'd never known.

#08 - Whiskey and rum

The night's eighth mistake was letting Fireflight be the designated driver.

#09 – War

War wasn't so bad, as far as they'd seen.

#10 – Weddings

Prime told them they couldn't, that if their love was true it wouldn't matter he was making them wait; really, he was trying to stave off the nuclear meltdown (guess how well that worked, with two gestalt leaders and Blades?)

#11 – Birthday

Ratchet let them have the birthday party in the medbay.

#12 – Blessing

"We ain't ever gonna be friends, but if it's gotta be someone I'm glad it's you."

#13 – Bias

Sometimes, Slingshot complained that Silverbolt rode him right into the damn ground, like he'd forgotten all the times Silverbolt refused to hear a word against him.

#14 – Burning

It never occurred to them that Fireflight's pyromania could be a problem.

#15 – Breathing

When they recharged, or watched television (except Skydive reading his book) or even just hung in the clouds, their vent cycles fell into sync.

#16 – Breaking

They found the gestalt couldn't be broken and were relieved; only stupid stubborn pride had let it get so far.

#17 – Belief

Slingshot taught them how to believe things that were patently, demonstrably false.

#18 – Balloon

"Fireflight, get down."

#19 – Balcony

"Air Raid, get down."

#20 – Bane

Optimus Prime and Megatron, Omega Supreme and the Constructicons, Defensor and Bruticus, Primus and Unicron, none of them had a tenth of the hate between Superion and Menasor.

#21 – Quiet

It was never quiet, when the Aerialbots were around, too much to do and see and say and _live_, and while it was rare to find one without his brothers, you never found one _alone_.

#22 – Quirks

They were delightfully goddamn quirky, and anyone who disagreed was cordially invited to take it up with the business end of Slingshot's rifle.

#23 – Question

Whenever they started with the uncomfortable questions (which all of them _would_, even Silverbolt,) Prime sighed and reminded himself that he'd asked for creations that thought for themselves, that valued freedom and life –and that was exactly what he got.

#24 – Quarrel

It was easy to tell when it was a _real_ fight; it was the only time Air Raid would be in the medbay voluntarily.

#25 – Quitting

They knew what the word meant, in an academic sense.

#26 – Jump

Silverbolt's pump stuttered and stalled as his brother jumped…but Blades was right where he was supposed to be, and Slingshot's cursing came from far more frustration than pain.

#27 – Jester

As much as Air Raid crossed the line, Silverbolt wouldn't trade his sense of humor for the world.

#28 – Jousting

It wasn't until he was trying to explain it to Prime for the second time that Silverbolt wondered how his brothers had managed to convince him Jet-Jousting was a natural, and tactically advantageous, outgrowth of the proven Jet Judo.

#29 – Jewel

Hot Spot was worth more to him than rubies (he loved his brothers more.)

#30 – Just

Skydive may have been right originally, but that was no justification for what he did.

#31 – Smirk

On one Aerialbot, it was a warning sign, on three too late, on all five…there would be no survivors.

#32 – Sorrow

They thought Air Raid was immune to the gravity well of sorrow.

#33 – Stupidity

"How," Silverbolt asked the tabletop, "can Skydive be so smart and so _stupid_ at the same time?"

#34 – Serenade

Slingshot would sing, if the stars aligned just so, if the omens were correct and the proper sacrifices made, if Jupiter was in conjunction with Pluto –or if Air Raid had a bad dream and couldn't get back to sleep.

#35 – Sarcasm

It was their native tongue, and their casual cruelty bewildered those that didn't understand what it was like to always know what your brother really meant.

#36 – Sordid

Skywarp didn't feel dirty about it at the time, or when he had to explain the paint transfer to Starscream, or even when the Aerialbot turned blue optics on him, betrayal shining through the smoke (okay, maybe the last.)

#37 – Soliloquy

The very concept baffled them, gestalt who'd never known privacy or self-doubt.

#38 – Sojourn

The rest of the Autobots saw Earth as terrible vacation, a temporary, if pleasant, exile –the Aerialbots saw it as a home they could learn to hate, with its natives and its snow and its memories, but still _home._

#39 – Share

It never occurred to Fireflight that he could have kept all of it.

#40 – Solitary

It took Prowl maybe a year to catch on that the best place for Slingshot to cool his heels actually _was_ solitary, where nobody but his brothers could bother him.

#41 – Nowhere

"Fireflight, where _were_ you when we were fighting the Giant Purple Griffin?"

#42 – Neutral

Silverbolt would take sides, but always sided with the facts; he didn't have a favorite like the others.

#43 – Nuance

Even without Superion to tip him off, Fireflight would know what his brother was thinking from the subtle wingtwitch and the shifted weight.

#44 – Near

Sometimes they forgot Skyfire couldn't predict them the same way, didn't like them flying so close to him as to each other.

#45 – Natural

"Skydive, how…never mind, get down."

#46 – Horizon

The thing about the horizon, well, there were a lot of things about the horizon, and some of them were pretty dang important, considering, but the thing about the horizon was that the higher you went, the more it stretched.

#47 – Valiant

They tried, they really did, and that was all Silverbolt ever asked, and Superion let him know just how hard they'd tried, how terrible it'd hurt when they failed.

#48 – Virtuous

There were days when even Silverbolt found Skydive's sanctimoniousness obnoxious as hell.

#49 – Victory

They were sparked to win the war, and in the end they did.

#50 – Defeat

Though, given _how_ they won it…

* * *

End notes:

#2: See previous chapter

#10: That would be Silverbolt and Hot Spot.

#11: They turned six.

#27: His sense of _timing_, on the other hand…

#29: Proverbs 31:10

#35: Also the Protectobots.


End file.
